In addition to the various decisions that the club will have to make regarding the January transfer window, clarity will also be required on the future of a player who is set to return from loan.
Marquinhos has been on loan at Fluminense since February, with the winger officially due to return to Arsenal on December 31st amid suggestions that the Brazilian club elected against signing him permanently.
Following stints on loan at Nantes and Norwich, Marquinhos started off well at Fluminense as he featured prominently, while he also filled in at right-back for a short spell.
However, he lost momentum after suffering a hamstring injury in June and found it difficult to regain his place in the starting lineup.
Marquinhos suffered another hamstring problem in August and upon his return was mainly an unused substitute, while he was left out of the matchday squad entirely for the last few games of his loan spell.
The 21-year-old has made six competitive appearances for Arsenal at first-team level, which included scoring and providing an assist on his debut against Zurich in the Europa League in 2022.
However, he hasn’t played competitively for Arsenal since January 2023 and it is questionable whether he will do so again, even though he has over two years remaining on his contract.
Another loan move or perhaps a permanent transfer could be arranged in January, but in any case Arsenal need to decide the next steps for Marquinhos.
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Jeorge Bird is the author of www.arsenalyouth.wordpress.com Follow him on Twitter @jeorgebird
Looking likely that he’ll go, good luck if so.
The curse of the hamstring strikes again….
“Arteta must decide Marquinhos’ future” = Hope to fuck someone takes him off our hands.
At his age, if you aren’t good enough, nobody gives you chances, unfortunately. Football is so ruthless. I used to say that Akpom would retire in our academy. He wasn’t breaking into first team but was good enough to expect something one day. Wenger could see things like a player has a low CG and light inertia when he is running with the ball. I am afraid for Marquinhos because Arteta seems to think that what he sees is what he gets.